Posts Tagged ‘defense authorization bill’

If Congress is going to authorize one or more base closure rounds in this year’s defense authorization bill, a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday made clear that it won’t come as a result of support from the House subcommittee responsible for launching a new BRAC. Reiterating many of the same arguments used last year to rebuff the administration’s request for two new rounds, both Republican and Democratic members of the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee openly criticized the Pentagon’s arguments to hold a BRAC round …

This week’s hearing by the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee on the justification for a new base closure round is needed to explore “the pros and cons of a BRAC round in this budgetary and strategic environment,” according to Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), the panel’s new chairman. In a written statement Wittman’s office provided 360, the congressman does not say whether he would support or oppose the Pentagon’s anticipated request for new base closure rounds, but said the hearing allows the committee “to get out front” on the question of whether a new BRAC round is necessary …

A hearing by the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee this week will provide the first opportunity for the Pentagon and defense communities to see if the mood on Capitol Hill has changed when it comes to granting DOD’s looming request for new base closure rounds. The Obama administration has not yet requested the new rounds yet — it doesn’t plan to deliver its fiscal 2014 budget request until April — but last month then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed that the department would request a new round of base closures as part of its budget proposal …

The Army and Navy are facing a shortfall in their fiscal 2013 operations budgets exceeding $9 billion because they have been spending money at a slightly faster rate than called for under the continuing resolution funding the government through March 27. While the CR is intended to cover 178 days, or 48.8 percent, of the year, the Office of Management and Budget is allowing the Army to spend at a rate that would expend 49.7 percent of its funds through March 27 and the Navy at a rate as high as 52.4 percent, reported Politico …

Nine installations will lose or gain assigned aircraft over the next three years under force structure actions directed in the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, the Air Force Reserve Command said Friday. Some of the more significant changes call for the following moves: Barksdale Air Force Base, La. — inactivate the 917th Fighter Group and retire 24 A-10C Thunderbolt IIs and transfer three A-10Cs to Whiteman AFB, Mo. …

Despite Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-Okla.) decision to oppose President Obama’s nominee for defense secretary, Capitol Hill insiders do not believe the incoming ranking member of the Armed Services Committee will undercut work on the defense authorization bill or cause a rift on the panel between the two parties. In fact, several congressional aides told CQ that Inhofe would be expected to follow the lead of his predecessor on the committee, John McCain (R-Ariz.), who established a cordial relationship with Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) over the annual defense policy bill …

Top Air Force officials acknowledged Friday that the most effective way to sustain a first class force in the face of an uncertain budget environment and other strategic challenges is to trim its size. “To avoid the perils of a hollow Air Force,” Secretary Michael Donley said, “we believe the best path forward is to become smaller in order to protect a high-quality and ready force that will improve in capability over time …

National Guard leaders should be appointed to an independent commission created by the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill to review how personnel and aircraft are allocated among the Air Force’s active and reserve components, according to a letter the National Governors Association sent this week to President Obama. National Guard representatives are needed on the panel to “to further discuss and resolve long-term strategic issues that came up during [Council of Governors] discussions with DOD,” wrote NGA Chairman Gov. Jack Markell and Vice Chairwoman Gov. Mary Fallin …

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe on Friday said helping the military manage its installations and force structure more efficiently would be one of his top priorities as the new ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, after he was unanimously elected to the position by the panel’s Republicans. He also said he would try to prevent “arbitrary defense budget cuts and force structure reductions that are not grounded in sound strategy addressing the full range of current threats …

The departure from the military for tens of thousands of service members over the next several years as part of DOD’s strategic shift to a smaller, more agile force will not be quite so abrupt due to two provisions in the final version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill. One provision will reinstate a previous authority allowing service members who are involuntarily separated from the military to continue to live, along with their families, in military housing for up to six months …